


23 years later

by EveandJohnny



Series: Magische Zukunft [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-22 06:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveandJohnny/pseuds/EveandJohnny
Summary: It's Albus' birthday and among the many wonderful presents of his wide-spread family is a rather mysterious one. He has to investigate it and, of course, there are only two people he trusts to help him.





	1. The present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Albus' birthday and among the many wonderful presents of his wide-spread family is a rather mysterious one. He has to investigate it and, of course, there are only two people he trusts to help him.

On Albus’ fifteenth birthday the weather went completely over the top. Nasty wind whipped snow against the windows, rain and hail mixed into it for good measure. Scorpius Malfoys was the first to congratulate him in the common room this morning. He gave him a leather necklace with a blue stone penchant, in which an L with antlers was engraved.

At the breakfast table in the Great Hall a rush of owls greeted him as soon as the mail arrived. Countless gifts plunged into his lap and on his - fortunately - empty plate. Among the presents were a self-knitted pullover from Granny Weasley in his favourite colour purple, a Remembrall from his parents, earmuffs from Ron and Hermione, a box overlaid with shells from Bill and Fleur, a notebook plus quill and invisible ink from Percy and Aubrey, “Quidditch through the Ages” signed by Gwenog Jones from George and Angelina and a case for his wand made of dragon-skin by Charlie and Esme.

Rose Weasley ambled over from the Gryffindor table, congratulated her friend on his birthday, wished Scorpius a good morning and then let herself be shown all the presents.

“Great things that you have gotten, buddy!” Fascinated, she weighed the Remembrall in one hand, felt the wand case, wrote with the invisible ink, leafed through the book, and put the earmuffs on her head to everybody’s amusement. Except to Scorpius'.

“Rose, these are Albus’ presents!” he exclaimed.

“It’s fine, Scorp. I have enough time to admire them later” he appeased him, placing one hand on his and squeezing it for a moment. That made him smile, but only weakly. Albus looked again through his presents and immediately started assigning them to different tasks. Despite the ghastly weather, their Quidditch captain had announced a practice session. He secretly hoped that they could somehow convince her from the opposite. He was not too keen on flying through snow and hail, and if word got to his mom she would be terribly worried about his health. Thankfully, he now had a new Weasley sweater he could wear for the training. And if the weather stayed that way, the earmuffs from Hermione and Ron would come in handy as well when they would be going to Hogsmeade at the weekend. If he indeed caught a cold he could swear at least that he had done everything in his powers trying to prevent it.

Scorpius was busy talking to his neighbour about something that had slipped Albus’ notice. He tried to get his attention but his best friend was too invested in the conversation so instead he turned to Rose who had now come around to his side of the table. He turned so his back was facing the table and looked down on Rose who crouched before him.

“Sorry, Al, for being so brash earlier. Some of the Slytherins still intimidate me” she apologized and put a hand on his knee. He patted it with his.

“No need to, most of them are pretty friendly.”

She shrugged. “I know, otherwise I wouldn’t be friends with you two and the people that are in the Potions Club. Anyway, you know what I was most curious about earlier?”

He gave her a crooked grin, the one she loved the most. “No, but you will surely tell me now.”

She returned his smile. “Yeah, well, that was the wand case. I mean, dragon skin! I also admire Esme and Charlie. They’re my favourite aunt and uncle, to be honest.”

Albus nodded. “Yeah, mine too. Well, I like Esme more. Charlie is cool, not questioning that, but, I don’t know, she’s really extraordinary.” He pulled the case from the table and held it between them, then opened it. When he put his wand in it, it perfectly fitted in the mould of the velvety green lining. They must have pilfered it from him to customize it. When he thought about it for a moment, it was actually such a Charlie/Esme thing to do that really he shouldn’t be surprised.

He was torn out of his musings when Rose plucked at his cuff. “Look” she whispered and pointed to the edge of a small clipping peeking out from between the outer shell and the lining. “What do you think that is?” she asked and looked up to him, leaving it to him whether to pull it out now or not.

“Seems to be a secret, otherwise they wouldn’t have hidden it so well. I’ll open it later, if that’s fine with you.”

“Why do you ask me? It’s directed to you, you can do what you want with it. But yeah, I suppose it would be wiser to open it discreetly.”

Just when Albus shoved the case into the large pocket of his robe, Scorpius turned to them, sporting a suspicious look. “What conspiracy theories are you discussing again?”

“None, Scorp. What do you think about visiting Hagrid after class? It’s been awhile that we’ve seen him.”

Scorpius eyed him for a second, then thrust the Remembrall in his friend’s hand.

“What’s that about?”

“You do remember that we have Quidditch practice this afternoon?”

Albus rolled his eyes. “I still hope that Reager cancels it. I doubt that McGonagall would allow it.”

“Why don’t you two just ask her, eh? She just sits down that table” Rose interrupted their banter, sighing, and pointed to the side that faced the teachers’ table where the girl in question was hunched over the sports section of the Daily Prophet. After a moment of silence, Albus sighed.

“Fine, I ask her. _If_ she calls it off, we’re gonna go down to Hagrid, promise me?” He held out his hand. Immediately, his friends put theirs on top, Rose’s wedged between the boys’, and answered him in unison “Promise.”


	2. Sweet Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only place Albus, Rose and Scorpius can talk in private is Hagrid's hut.

Martha Reager might have been true to her house - ambitious, determined and cunning - but she was never rash nor daredevil. Right after breakfast, she had put up an announcement on the Slytherin Common Room pinboard, stating that Quidditch practice was canceled due to the merciless weather. She assured her fellow students that, yes, she was fully aware of the game against Gryffindor taking place in two weeks. But of what use were players who battled a nasty flu instead of their competitors from the lion's house? Although the rivalry between the houses - those two in particular -  had subsided after Voldemort's defeat, a certain spirit of strife fuelled by the house pride was still there, and anyway, everyone appreciated an exciting and fair Quidditch game.

So, thanks to their captain's common sense (and the thoughtful advice of one Albus Potter) Scorpius Malfoy and his friends could hurry down the grounds after their last lesson, Charms, towards the outlying gamekeeper's hut. Wrapped in several layers of warm clothing, they fought their way through the wind and the snow, holding tight to each other for support and never losing sight of the hut that shone through the perilious weather like a beacon. They were the only ones out, everybody else had been wise enough to stay indoors.

When they reached the door and knocked, they heard a loud thud and a muttered curse from inside. Then warmth and light spilled out into the cold twilight as Rubeus Hagrid opened the door.

"My dears! What are yer doing out in that awful weather?" With a sweep of his enormous hands that resembled dustbin lids he ushered them in, shutting the door firmly behind them.

"We needed somewhere private because Al has received a mysterious message from Charlie and Esme" Scorpius informed him.

"Mysterious message, eh? Ye know ye can trust ol' Hagrid."

They exchanged a quick glance, thinking about the all the times Hagrid "shouldn't have said that" but didn't say anything.

Hagrid had not noticed their mute conversation, instead had eyed Albus for several seconds before clapping his hands together, then covering his face with one hand.  
"Oh, how could I forget yer birthday! Come 'ere!" He took Albus in a bone-crushing hug. "Yer want biscuits and tea?"

"Ah, biscuits are not necessary, we'll have dinner soon, but tea would be nice" Albus said, thinking that he wanted to keep his teeth for a little more, and joined his friends at the large table.

Hagrid served them the tea, not without adding staggering amounts of sugar beforehand, and sat down.  
"So, now what's it all abou'?" He folded his hands and looked expectantly at Albus, and so did Rose and Scorpius.

"Okay, so they gave me this wand case for my birthday" he started, pulling the relevant object out of his pocket.

Though Hagrid admired the case for its craftsmenship, he was not able to avoid to crease his brows. "Is that dragon skin?"

Rose knew what would be coming so she hurriedly said "Yeah, they explained in their letter that this was an old dragon who died without agony after having lived a long and happy life in the reservation. He wasn't killed just for the case."

Hagrid sighed in relief.

Albus waited a second to not be interrupted again, then continued "Yes, and inbetween the lining and the shell was this little piece of paper." He unfolded it and placed it on the table. "I haven't had a look on it yet, either."

They studied it carefully for several minutes but the characters on the paper refused to make any sense, no matter how hard they stared at them.

Scorpius was the first to break the silence. "So, what is this? These are Latin letters but what language is this?"

Rose squinted. "Considering the strange letters sprinkled inbetween and Esme's life story, I'd say it's Danish."

"And why should they write to you in Danish?" Hagrid looked positively puzzled.

"I reckon this is a super secret message that absolutely nobody except us is supposed to see. If anybody had caught a glimpse they still wouldn't know what it was about. But we can research it in the library. I suppose they have dictionaries there" Albus explained.

"I'll take care of that" Rose volunteered, already copying the message on a spare parchment she had found in her robes.

"Thanks, Rose. After you found out whatever this means we'll see what to do next." Albus turned to Hagrid. "Thanks for the tea, but we really have to get going now. Dinner, you know. But we'll be back soon."

"Ye know yer always welcome and I'm sorry I don't have a present for yer." Hagrid looked truly displeased with himself.

Albus just waved. "Don't worry about it. There's no better way than to spend your birthday with your friends."

That made the half-giat smile widely, the grin lit up his whole face, at least the parts that were not covered by wiry black and grey hair.

"Bye Hagrid!" they shouted over the roar of the wind when they left the hut. By now it was pitch black outside and they hastened back to the castle, minds running wild with speculations about the mysterious message.


	3. Investigating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose surprises her friends with a kind of work mania that is rather uncommon for her.

Rose got up before the girls in her dorm and even before her friends down in the Slytherin Dungeons. She just couldn’t wait any longer. When they had split last night after dinner, she needed to finish her homework for this day. She might be nearly as clever as her mom, but she certainly wasn’t as diligent as Hermione. On the contrary, she literally had to drag herself to do her homework. Not that she didn’t like finding out new things, and languages were particularly intriguing to her, but stoically writing down passages from books to form boring essays was definitely not her cup of tea.  
But it had to be done, and so she had lost precious time last night that could have been invested into solving the riddle surrounding the mysterious message.

She slipped into her robes and pulled her messy hair into a quick bun, then proceeded down the stairs. She moved around the common room soundlessly until she reached the portrait.

“Where are you going, young lady?” the Fat Lady inquired, still a little sleepy.

“Investigating” Rose replied tersely before she hassled down the hallway.

The librarian was already in her sacred space on the first floor, dusting the bookshelves.

“Good Morning, Madam Pince. I’m looking for a Danish dictionary. Do you maybe have one somewhere?” Rose asked as she came straight towards the middle-aged lady on the ladder.

“Miss Granger-Weasley.” The librarian eyed her over the rim of her glasses. “For what do you need a Danish dictionary?”

Rose didn’t need a second to come up with a suitable excuse, she had mentally rehearsed her answer all the way down from the Gryffindor Tower. “I stumbled across the Danish wizarding newspaper, the _Daglig Oracle_ , the day before yesterday and I wanted to have a look into it. But I didn’t get to translating a few passages of it yesterday because I had too much to do.”

“But you are so keen on finding out about it that you woke up extraordinarily early?”

Rose smiled sweetly. “Correct.”

“Well, I’m the last person to keep knowledge from you. Dictionaries are row B; the whole corridor is reserved for them.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Rose went over to the described section and looked up the shelves of the letter D. She quickly found the heavy book, borrowed it at the loans desk, and hurried to the Great Hall for breakfast.

When Scorpius saw her entering, he called her and she acknowledged him with a wave; then she squeezed between Anne MacLoughlin and Ben Splash, the close friends she had in her house.

“Where have you been?” Anne asked and handed her a roll.

“Believe it or not, I was in the library” Rose answered.

Anne nearly choked on her orange juice. “ _You_ went voluntarily to the library? Has your mom hexed you?”

“Of course not, to both of your statements. I needed to look something up for Charms I had forgotten to check yesterday.”

“Speaking of Charms, how much have you written? I really struggled to reach one foot” Ben chimed in, then nudged his neighbour on the right and asked for the fruit plate.

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t tell me! I managed it accurate to the poppyseed* and I really couldn’t wrench out one more word. But at least we start off with Herbology today.” Beside languages, plants were another of Rose’s interests and Professor Longbottom had the great ability to impart even the driest facts interestingly.

***

For lunch break, Rose did not appear in the Great Hall, but she had excused herself beforehand to her friends with the pretence of finishing a Transfiguration essay (that she had actually already done). She didn’t like lying to her Gryffindor friends but she had decided on where her loyalties lay in that particular matter.

If anyone had bothered to check the Arithmancy classroom during the break, they would have found a red-haired, slightly sweating fifth-year hunched over a thick leather-bound book and a stack of notes, her quill flying over the papyrus. But nobody bothered, so Rose had the room to herself so she could hopefully finish the translation before the break was over. Then she could inform her friends about it right after class. The message was short but the tenses and cases where sometimes a little tricky but thankfully there was also grammar section at the end of the book.

By now, she was halfway through the text. It knocked and she was so startled she nearly fell off her chair. But it was only Albus who poked his head through the door crack.

“How is it going?” He came in.

“Oh, fine, I guess. Though what I have translated so far doesn’t make much sense. I hope for the rest to clarify things.”

“Well, I’m still grateful for your effort, so there’s no need to scold yourself. I brought you lunch. You’re not supposed to go starved through the rest of the day.” He placed the bowl full mashed potato and green beans plus a spoon in front of her.

“Thanks, Al. No, I really like to do it. I’m thinking about asking Esme for lessons. Danish is quite fascinating.”

“Your mum would be proud to hear this from you” he said as he watched her eating hungrily.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I think she still can’t understand how her daughter hasn’t inherited her application and compassion for studying. Then I have to remind her of what she told me about Dad when they were in school.”

Albus patted her shoulder. “Is it still that bad?”

Rose shrugged and briefly touched his hand. “It has gotten better since Hugo is in Hogwarts, too. He takes more after Mom on that matter, that helps. And I can always rely on Dad to back me up, so yeah, it’s okay actually.” She finished her lunch and returned to her work, not before saying “I try to finish this before break is over. I’ll meet you in Muggle Studies then.”

Albus took the empty bowl with him, and when he was at the door, he teased “But don’t overwork yourself.”

Rose looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “I am sure as hell the last person to do so.”

He laughed, but she kept a straight face until he closed the door behind him. Then she had to smile, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *When I realized, I didn’t know what unit is smaller than an inch, I consulted Wikipedia, and dear English, I have questions. It makes kind of sense to me, but I still think that naming your units “poppyseeds” and “barleycorns” is hilarious.  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_units


	4. In the greenhouses

After Defence Against the Dark Arts, one of the few subjects Scorpius and Albus didn’t have with Rose, they met in the entrance hall to go down to Hagrid again. The weather had calmed down, but it was still cold outside and thick grey clouds threatened more snow.  
Rose was already waiting for the two boys, basically bouncing on her feet.

“Well, well, you look like you have found something exciting” Scorpius remarked after he had embraced her.

“Exciting to say the least! More like extraordinary, spectacular, fab-“ She stopped mid-word. Then she muttered through gritted teeth “Filch”.

Only a second later the janitor appeared at their side, shooting them a suspicious look. “Now, what are you three up to?”

“We want to visit Hagrid; we still have a few questions about today’s lesson” Scorpius replied with a sharp tongue, not even looking at the man. Filch only huffed, then retreated into one of the corridors, his cat Mrs Norris on his heels.

“You could be more polite to him, even though he can be annoying” Albus said disapprovingly.

“He’s a Squib, he can hold that out.” As soon as the derogatory comment had left his mouth, he looked embarrassed.

Rose looked as if she was about to explode. “Scorpius Malfoy, I thought we had raised you better! Also your father wouldn’t be very pleased to hear that his son perpetuates overcome beliefs of inequality.”

Scorpius gazed over to Rose from under his long fringe as he held his head low in an apologetic gesture. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it like that. Of course, I have been raised better by both my parents and you. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Only slowly went the red away from Rose’s face. Albus patted him on the back.

“It’s okay. Not what you said, but that you are repentant. Now let us go before Filch appears again.”

They walked down the Grounds, passing the greenhouses where Professor Longbottom was still working. When the gamekeeper’s hut came into sight, it was suspiciously dark. Albus stopped.

“Where’s Hagrid? Isn’t he usually at home at this time?”

The others had stopped as well, looking confused at the lightless cottage.

“Do you think something has happened to him?” Rose suggested worriedly after several moments of silence.

“I hope not. Maybe he’s just at a meeting with the other teachers. But we should have a look, just in case he’s lying on the ground because he had a seizure.”

“Scorp!” Albus looked frightened.

“As I said, I hope he hasn’t, Al, but we should be careful nonetheless.”

“He’s right, Al. Let’s have a look.” Rose started walking again, so they had no choice but to follow her.

When they reached the hut they first listened for any sounds but there was only silence.

“The windows are too high. Al, can you take me on your shoulders?”

Albus looked perplexed at Scorpius.

“What? I’m the lightest among the three of us.”

“Alright.” Albus got on one knee and Scorpius climbed on his shoulders. Rose steadied them both as Albus slowly rose to his full height.

“Do you see anything?” Rose called up to Scorpius. He pressed his forehead to the window and shielded his eyes with his hands.

“No, the hut is empty. There is no Hagrid.”

“Thank Merlin!” Rose exclaimed.

“Well, that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing wrong with Hagrid. He’s just not here.”

“Al!” Rose punched his upper arm, causing the two boys to sway slightly.

“Can you please wait to beat Al up until I’m down on the ground?” Scorpius called as he tried to steady himself on the walls.

“Sorry, Scorp. Why don’t you come down if there’s nothing to see anyway?”

“Brilliant idea! Even though you are the lightest you’re still too heavy for my taste.” Albus said dryly in a strained voice, then slowly knelt again so Scorpius could slip from his shoulders.

“So, when Hagrid is not here, where do we hold our conspirative meeting?” Scorpius looked around as if a solution would present itself right here. When his eyes travelled up the steep slope that led towards the castle they stopped at the greenhouses where at that moment the lights went out. His lips curled into a mischievous smile. “In the greenhouses. Professor Longbottom just finished his work” he answered his own question.

His friends followed his gaze and saw a robed figure with a pointed hat walking towards the castle.

“That’s actually not a bad idea” Rose acknowledged after a moment of consideration.

“I never have bad ideas” Scorpius boasted.

“And what about the manipulated Exploding Snap deck?” Albus reminded him of one disastrous birthday party.

“Al, that was only misguided.”

Albus snorted, and together they walked up to the greenhouses. The door was, as usually, unlocked, and they slipped into it unseen. After having checked that they were indeed alone, they sat down in a circle. Rose pulled out her notes from her translation session and illuminated them with the tip of her wand.

“So, what’s with the mysterious message now?” Albus asked, a little impatient.

“I was wondering why they didn’t send this to Molly or Dominique because this is about the Ravenclaw Common Room. It says that there is a secret passageway in there.”

“A secret passageway? As far as I remember there’s no such way on my Dad’s map.” Albus frowned as he looked her notes over.

“Maybe because your Granddad and his friends weren’t Ravenclaws and didn’t have access to the Common Room.” Scorpius proposed.

“Still” Albus insisted and racked his brain how he could get his hands on the map. Just asking his brother James wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t let Albus go until he hadn’t told him why he needed it. No way would he do that.

“We need the help of Molly then. Is that what you suggest?”

“I can’t think of anything else at the moment. As we are all family, more or less at least, it wouldn’t raise too much notion.”

“True, but what do we do next once we’re inside? It would be definitely suspicious if we snooped around there.”

“We should go at night, as far as I’m concerned. The enchanted knocker at the entrance only asks you a riddle, not why you come in so late at night. That should be an advantage.”

“Sounds like it. But can we trust Molly that she keeps her mouth shut?”

“I’m quite confident about it. What do you think Al? Al?” Rose nudged him.

“Uhm, what?”

Scorpius rolled his eyes. “Do you think that Molly’s a trustworthy person?”

“Oh yes, she always takes my side when it’s me against my brother, and that really says a lot. So you want to ask her?”

“I think so, yes. Or do you have a different idea?” Rose leaned a little forward.

“No, no. Asking Molly is good. We should do it right after dinner tonight.”


	5. Accomplices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan to get into the Ravenclaw Common Room takes more and more shape.

The name Molly Weasley was a blessing and a curse at the same time. At least to the girl bearing the name who was presently in Hogwarts. Everyone knew the namesake, her Grandma, and her heroic actions before and in the Battle of Hogwarts in the year 1998. It was hard to prove herself as her own person when the image of her namesake was still so strongly implemented in people’s minds. It helped a little that Molly II didn’t look like her Grandma at all. She was tall and lean, had smooth brown skin and thick black curls that she usually wore braided. But somehow people still associated her with her famous Grandma - the woman who had taken down Bellatrix Lestrange - and expected her to do just as grand. Thankfully she didn’t have to live up to those standards when she was with her cousins and because quiet a lot of the students’ body fitted that definition she enjoyed her time at the school very much.

Currently, she was sitting with Albus Potter, Rose Weasley and their best friend Scorpius Malfoy in a quiet corner of the Ravenclaw Tower staircase. Rose was one of her favourite people in the family, partly because, unlike her, she looked _so much_ like their Grandma and apparently was quite capable of being identified so easily as a Weasley.   
The trio had approached her after dinner and asked for a chat in absolute privacy. That had amused her a little as they seemed dead serious about whatever they wanted to talk about. But as she always enjoyed a good adventure she had been onboard immediately.

Rose pulled out her notes once more and handed them, along with the original message, to Molly. “Albus received this letter with the present from Charlie and Esme at his birthday. It took me a while to translate the Danish words but in the end I managed. It says that there’s a secret passage way in the Ravenclaw Common Room.”

“How do they know? Wasn’t Esme in Slytherin?” Molly frowned as she read the notes.

Rose shook her head. “No, she was in Ravenclaw. You’re probably confusing that because she was related to Snape.”

Molly acknowledged the correction with a wave of her index finger but stayed silent.

“So do you know something about it?” Albus asked, squirming impatiently on the hard marble seats.

“I’m thinking, Al!” She shut her eyes and massaged her temples, conjuring a layout of the common room before her inner eye.  Moving mentally around, she tried to find anything that might only as much as hint the presence of a secret passageway. With her eyes still closed, she motioned for a quill and parchment, and scribbled down possible places blindly.

The others watched in amazement as impeccable words in pristine condition took shape on the parchment even though their author wasn’t looking at them.

Molly snapped her eyes open again and reviewed the list of possible places. “Yeah, I’d say these are the most probable places to find an entrance. So what’s your plan now?” She handed the list over to Albus.

“We’d need your help one more time. You have to get us into the common room tonight so we can have a look at all your suggested places and check them” he explained once he had read her list.

Molly waved. “You don’t need me to get into the common room. Any of you is clever enough to solve the riddle. But I can watch your back once you have indeed found something and are on your way.”

Albus wanted to object but Rose cut him off with a move of her hand. “That sounds like a plan to me. Let us meet a little after curfew. I hope by then every Ravenclaw has disappeared into their bedrooms?” She directed the question to Molly.

“I wouldn’t bet on that. Better say, you come an hour after. When I’m alone, I will knock on the door from inside and then you can come in. I have to get going now, there’s still homework I have to finish.” She got up, waved good-bye, and then ascended the circular staircase leading up to the common room.

As soon as she was out of sight, Rose received a punch in the shoulder from both Scorpius and Albus. “Ouch, what was that for?”

“You call this a plan? We have to be out way past curfew, who knows if there isn’t still anybody beside Molly lounging in the common room and, most important, what if we don’t solve the riddle?” Scorpius hissed, his face very close to hers.

“Do you have a better idea? Both of you? There is no need to worry about us being seen and certainly not about the riddle. Come on, you heard Molly, a _Ravenclaw_ , that we can solve the riddle. Anyway, we also have homework to do, so we better get that done before we creep through the castle.” Ignoring the deadly looks her friends were shooting her, she got up and sauntered through the throngs of Ravenclaws pouring in the tower.

Scorpius and Albus were fuming for another second, then dropped their shoulders in defeat and followed her outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because basically nothing is known about Audrey Weasley, Molly’s mom, she might as well be of African-American descent.


	6. Going down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio enters the Ravenclaw Common Room for the first time in their time at Hogwarts.

Later that day, the trio was tiptoeing through the corridors of Hogwarts, hidden beneath Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility. It was bothering Albus since the moment Rose had picked them up from the Dungeons how it had come into her possession. He had thought the cloak well hidden in his dad’s chambers. But he didn’t ask her now, fearing that the noise could give them away to anyone wandering the hallways.

They reached the Ravenclaw Common Room door unseen and just in time to hear Molly knocking from the other side, indicating that all was clear. Albus stepped up to the door and knocked.

The eagle on the knocker sprang to life, opening his flaring bronze-coloured eyes and his beak. “What goes through walls but is neither a nail nor a ghost?”

Albus wanted to say ‘ghost’ before the knocker had excluded that from the possible options. He came up with another idea.  
“A window!” he exclaimed quietly, not wanting to draw more attention than necessary.

The door didn’t move.

Looking for help, he turned to his friends. “What do you think?”

Rose looked a little lost, too. This had been probably also her suggestion.

“Nothing easier than that!” Scorpius strode past them and positioned himself in front of the knocker. “The answer is: a sound.”

Almost immediately the door opened without a noise, revealing a dimly lit circular room.

“Welcome to the Ravenclaw Common Room!” Molly whispered when they entered, her arms spread in an inviting gesture.

“It’s nice here” Scorpius remarked. “So airy, quite a difference to the dungeons.”

“Yeah, it’s a good place to mull about the important questions in life. Dungeons are better suited for plotting your revenge” Molly teased. Then her face went serious. “I’d suggest that everyone picks a place and we look separately.”

The trio nodded in agreement, then split. Scorpius knelt in front of the fireplace, Rose thoroughly inspected the bookshelves on the right, Molly examined those on the left side, and Albus went over to Rowena Ravenclaw’s statue. He squinted, scanning it from top to bottom and back up again. Tentatively, he tried her wand but it didn’t move. He gave the figurine another inquisitive look, then he decided to try something unlikely. With the aid of a chair he had pulled over, he climbed up so he was face to face with the house founder.

“Albus, what are you doing?” Rose hissed but by then it was too late.

He had already pressed the gem on top of the diadem. Behind the statue, a slit appeared in the wall that slowly spread until it was about a foot wide.

“Goodness gracious!” Molly exclaimed, taken aback by the sudden change of events.

“There you have it, the secret passageway. Do we want to go down there?” Scorpius peered through the opening but all he could see was swallowing darkness.

“Of course we want to! We haven’t come this far to just turn around when it finally gets really interesting.” Rose was outraged.

“Well, why don’t you go first if you’re so eager” Scorpius retorted.

“What do you think, Al?” Molly interjected before the banter could continue and looked up to Albus who hadn’t moved a muscle since touching the diadem.

“Uh, yeah, could you go first, Rose?” he stammered, scrambling down from the chair.

“Cowards” Rose mumbled, then muttered “Lumos” and went, wand first, through the cavity.

“What do you see?” Albus called after he had joined the others at the entrance.

“Not much. Polished walls and a narrow staircase. Nothing frightening, so come down, will you?”

Albus and Scorpius exchanged another cautious look, then trudged after her.

 


	7. The Treasure Chamber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally! They solved the riddle of the mysterious message. But is this really the end?

It was getting cooler the deeper they descended.

“Where do you think we are now? Is this already the bottom of the tower?” Albus asked after they had walked for a while.

“I don’t know how this is supposed to work because the spiral staircase that leads up to the common room fills the entire tower. But considering that we’re at a magical school everything seems possible. We might as well be at the bottom of the tower or somewhere in between, or the staircase is playing tricks on us and we’re actually walking up.” Rose explained her train of thought.

“Why don’t you just admit that you have no idea” Scorpius said, a little exasperated.

“Albus asked for my opinion, but yes, I really don’t know where we are.”

Just when she had finished the sentence she stopped short in front of a solid wooden door. She squinted and wanted to open it but Albus cried out.

“Don’t! Maybe it’s coursed!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Al. Nothing will happen.” Scorpius said.

Rose secretly appreciated Albus’ worries but she also didn’t expect any danger. She reached cautiously forward and touched the handle. When nothing happened - no electric shock pulsing through her, no pitch descending upon her, or anything else in this category - she pushed it down. But the door stayed closed. She extinguished the light on the tip of her wand and whispered “Alohomora”. A faint series of clicks, barely audible, resounded. She tried the handle again and could now open the door. Behind her, Albus and Scorpius collectively held her breath as they walked into utter darkness.

“Do you see a chandelier or something?” Albus asked, looking around. He shrieked when suddenly blue light shot from the tip of Rose’s wand, transforming into a mighty albatross that circled around the room, lighting it up in a ghostly glow.

“There’s on up there and several are standing along the walls” Rose said, stating the obvious.

They set off in different directions to light the candles. When they were done, the flickering light illuminated a circular room whose walls were covered in heavy, extraordinarily embroidered tapestry. A little off the walls stood shelves crammed with old but expensive looking books. Every surface was covered in a layer of dust that was nearly an inch thick.

“That’s it? They’re making such a drama because of books?” Reading was not one of Scorpius’ favourite activities.

“Are you kidding? Do you know how valuable books can be? I mean, look at that, ‘Forbidden Potions - the most dangerous potions from the Middle Ages to the 19th century’! Or “The Pure 28 - A Guide to the most influencing wizard families and the members they didn’t want to talk about’! I don’t know exactly how much they cost but it definitely is a fortune.” Rose had cried out first, then her tone became hushed in view of the immense wealth that was stored down here.

Albus walked to another shelf and pulled a random book out. “What about this? It reads ‘The Witches’ Hammer’.”

Rose put her hands to her mouth in a surprised and shocked manner. “This” she said, pointing at Albus and the book he was holding “is the deadliest book in the world. You have no idea how many people were killed because of this book.

Albus nearly dropped it, being utterly disgusted by the image of holding a book in his hands that brought so much despair. Cautiously, he put it back on the shelf and wiped his hands on his robes, just in case.

“Why do you know so much about all those books?” Scorpius asked while examining the spines on the shelf nearest to him.

“You know how much my mom loves books and as Head of the Department for Magical Artefacts she also has to deal with books concerning magic. She talks about them at the rare occasion of us all having dinner together.” Rose explained and, for her part, browsed the bookshelf next to her.

They fell into mutual silence as they examined their spectacular find, uttering a sound of surprise or repugnance from time to time.

When they had at least looked at every shelf, they gathered in the middle, sitting down on the carpet.

“Okay, so what do we do now? Do you think that McGonagall or Flitwick know about this place?” Albus asked.

“I doubt that, otherwise they would have secured this place much better.” Scorpius said.

“But when they expect the whole students’ body not to know about they consider this maybe the best defence strategy” Rose offered an reason.

Scorpius shot her a disbelieving look.  “This is the Ravenclaw Common Room. These are clever people; they could have figured out that, after the Chamber of Secrets revealed, their house founder might have installed something similar as well.”

“Yeah, but perhaps, just perhaps, they regarded this as too obvious. Or it is too obvious, so they never had the idea in the first place. I mean, Molly didn’t know about it and I expect that, when one Ravenclaw, or a little group of them, figures it out, they would tell the rest of the house. Just imagine what all the Ravenclaws could do down here with all those treasures. They would read each and every book and Merlin, who knows, what ground-breaking research could be done down here. But nobody has touched the books in, it appears, decades. Maybe even centuries.” Rose had turned red during her heated explanation.

Scorpius frowned, mulling the line of argumentation over in his head.

Albus gave him a few minutes of consideration, then said “Well, that brings us back to our starting point. To tell or not to tell, that’s the question now. Who is pro telling Flitwick or McGonagall?”

Rose raised her arm.

“And who’s against it?”

Scorpius held up his hand.

“That leaves you the decision.” Rose said to Albus.

“Ah, err, well.” They looked expectantly to him. He raised his arms in defeat. “I don’t know!” he exclaimed. There are reasons for and against it.”

Scorpius sighed. “Of course there are. But don’t you have a preference?”

Albus looked like a rabbit, sitting before a snake, about to be eaten, then let out an exasperated groan. “Ugh! I’m against it.”

Scorpius smiled triumphantly but Rose shook her head.

“I get that you want to protect the books-“

Scorpius traded a glance if to say “Do we?”

“-but imagine what investigations could be done with it.” She threw her hands in the air, then got up.

Scorpius chuckled. “Are you sure you’re not your mother?”

She shot him a deadly glare. “Oh, screw you!” Then she stomped out of the room.


End file.
